


Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)

by velvetjinx



Series: Rubies [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Changing POV, Fluff, Kidnapping, M/M, Shameless Smut, child endangerment, sassy seven year old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 12:59:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9441329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx
Summary: Thor and Loki have escaped from prison and want revenge. Chris and Sebastian find their daughter in danger and it's a race against time to save her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for everyone who wanted more in the Rubies!verse. <3
> 
> Title from The Veronicas. 
> 
> Also thanks be to Ria who said that this idea didn't suck. <3

Rachel Evans sits on a swing in her back yard, watching the family dog, Dodger, run around playing with her dad while her tată laughs, her little three year old brother Michael in his arms. 

She's lived with her dad and tată for two years - she's seven, now - and she loves them a lot, even though they're sometimes gross and kiss each other in front of her. And she knows they love her too; they tell her at least once a day, but she'd know anyway. Just like she knows that they love each other, and her little brother. 

She still gets sad sometimes, thinking about her other daddy and her mommy, but her dad says that's okay and that she'll probably always feel a little sad about them. It's okay, though; dad says she'll see them again when she gets to heaven. 

Besides, now she has four sets of grandparents instead of just two. After she and Michael had been living with dad and tată for about six months, dad and tată had got in touch with her mommy and daddy's parents. She'd overheard them talking about it one day and had sat outside the door to listen. 

"What if they're homophobic? Or what if one day they try to take the kids away from us because they can look after them?"

Her dad was talking loudly, but he sounded scared, not angry. 

"That's not going to happen, Chris. They're legally ours, now. And if they're homophobic then that's their problem, not ours. They don't have to see the kids. But I think it would be a nice gesture to some people who have lost their whole families. To let them know that they've not lost everyone."

"How are you such a better person than me?" Her dad sounded amused then, but then she could hear them kissing so she made a face and went back to her room. 

"Whatcha thinking about, dearest daughter?" her dad asks, sitting down beside her on the other swing as Dodger flops at his feet. 

Rachel shrugs. "Families, I guess."

"Hmm, deep thoughts indeed." Rachel looks at him suspiciously, but his expression is serious, not a hint of a smile. "You wanna pause those thoughts and come inside for a cookie?"

"I thought we were out of cookies?"

"Your tată made more last night," her dad grins, as her tată brings Michael over. 

"What did I do last night?" he asks. 

"Made more cookies," her dad explains. 

"That is a thing that I did," her tată agrees. "So we should totally go eat those now."

Her dad gets up as Rachel jumps off her swing, and they all go back into the house together, Dodger running around their feet. Rachel sits up at the table and her dad pours her a glass of milk while her tată hands her an enormous chocolate chunk cookie. 

They eat in silence for a few moments, just enjoying the tasty cookies, when suddenly her dad's phone rings. He looks at it curiously. 

"It's Johansson," he says, before answering. "Hey, Johansson, what's up?" Johansson is Rachel's Aunt Scarlett. She's an FBI agent and she's really cool. Rachel kind of wants to be like her when she grows up. 

Her dad glances at them all and says, "Hang on a sec," before leaving the kitchen. Her tată looks after him curiously, but then Michael knocks his cup onto the floor and Dodger thinks this is a new game so they all get pretty distracted and forget all about her dad's phone call. 

***

"Wait, Johansson, slow down," Chris tells her, unable to make head nor tail of what she's saying. "Who's done what?"

"Hemsworth and Hiddleston - Thor and Loki - have...Chris, they've escaped from prison."

Chris's heart drops to somewhere in the region of his feet. "What? No, that's not possible, how did they get out?"

"They bribed one of the guards to help. We caught him, but he claims he doesn't know what their plans are. But, look, Evans...we're afraid they might come for you or your family, given your history."

"Shit, okay. What do we do?"

"We're going to do protection detail on you, if you want. We'll watch the house, escort you when you take Rachel to and from school."

"For how long?"

"Hopefully not too long. We seized all the buildings they owned that we knew about, so they won't have many places to hide. We _will_ find them, Evans, I promise."

"I know you will." And he does. He has faith in his old team that they'll get the job done. "So when are you going to start the protection detail?"

"ASAP, ideally. Can we come round this afternoon to discuss?"

"Of course. Thanks for this. Even if it turns out to not be needed, it's..."

"I know. You need peace of mind, especially with the kids. So will we say three pm? That'll give you time to talk to your better half and tell the kids anything they need to know."

"Sounds great. Thanks, Johansson."

"Don't mention it."

Chris ends the call, and heads back into the kitchen, where Michael is sitting in a chair drinking his milk as Sebastian helps Rachel with some colouring in. His chest goes tight at the thought of anything happening to any of his little family. Sebastian looks up, smiling, but his expression goes serious when he sees the look on Chris's face. 

"Hey, Rachel, sweetheart, I'm gonna have to steal your tată away for a minute," Chris says, trying to keep his tone light. "Will you watch your little brother?"

"Sure, dad," she replies without even looking up from her picture, and Chris nods at Sebastian who gets up and follows him through to the living room. 

"Chris, what's going on? Is this about the phone call from Scarlett?" Sebastian asks as soon as the door is closed behind them, and Chris nods. 

"It's Thor and Loki. They've escaped together - bribed a guard - and are now somewhere out there."

Sebastian's hand flies to his mouth and his eyes widen. "Oh my god, that's. Fuck, Chris, what are we going to do?"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Chris says soothingly, striding forward and wrapping Sebastian in a hug. "The team are going to put protection detail on us twenty four seven, and they're going to catch them soon anyway, so likelihood is we have nothing to worry about. It's just a precaution."

"But the kids!" Sebastian pulls out of the hug, running his fingers through his hair. "Shit, Chris, what are we going to tell the kids?"

"An edited form of the truth. That some bad guys their dad put away when he was in the FBI have escaped and that the FBI are going to look after us until they're caught just in case they come here."

"Rachel's too smart for that. She'll figure that something's up."

"We can't tell her the whole truth, you know that," Chris sighs. "If she asks questions we'll just answer them as best we can."

"Okay. I'll go get them." Sebastian goes back to the kitchen to fetch the kids, and Chris sits on the sofa heavily, dropping his head into his hands. 

When Sebastian returns, Michael and Rachel in tow, he scrubs his hands over his face and manages a smile, patting the sofa seat beside him. Rachel sits down, looking curious, and Sebastian sits on her other side, Michael on his lap. 

"So that was your Aunt Scarlett on the phone," Chris begins, and Rachel nods. "You remember how I used to be in the FBI and put bad guys away in jail?"

"Mhm," Rachel replies, her face lighting up. She loves the heavily edited stories he tells her from his time in the FBI, and he can't help a small smile. 

"Well, a couple of those bad guys escaped from prison, and they don't like me at all. So there's a... _concern_...that they might come looking for me, or your tată who gave us some information that helped us put them away."

Rachel looks worried and a little scared now, and Chris hates that he's been forced to do this. 

"I'll shoot the bad guys," Michael laughs, making finger guns which he points at the tv. "Bang bang, just like that. I'll protect you, daddy and tată."

"Oh, we know you would, kiddo," Sebastian smiles, kissing the top of Michael's head. "But you won't need to. The FBI are sending people out to look after us and make sure that if the bad guys do come here then they'll catch them straight away."

"This means a few changes, though," Chris says seriously. "No going out into the yard by yourself, definitely no going out to get the mail until these guys are caught, and remember everything we've taught you about stranger danger. If you don't know them, and they try to get you to go somewhere with them, you scream and you kick and you make as much fuss and noise as you can, okay?"

Rachel nods, her eyes wide. "I will, dad. Nobody's taking me without a fight."

Chris looks at her, wondering just how much Johansson has been teaching her when he's not looking. "Okay, good," he says at length. "We're going to keep you home from preschool, Michael, for a little while, so you get to stay home with daddy and tată for a while, but we can't take you out of school indefinitely, sweetheart," he says to Rachel, who nods. 

At that moment, the doorbell rings, and Chris gets up and pads silently to the door, looking through the peephole and sighing with relief when he sees Johansson and Mackie standing there. He opens the door and smiles at his friends, who look grim. 

"Hey, what's up? Come in," Chris says, moving to one side so the can come in. He closes the door behind them and leads them into the living room. "We've just been telling the kids the situation," he explains, and Johansson nods. 

"There's been a...development," she says hesitantly, and Chris and Sebastian exchange glances. 

"Rachel, sweetheart, will you take your little brother upstairs please?" Sebastian says gently, and Rachel nods. 

"Come on, Michael." She grabs his hand and pulls him towards the door. As soon as the door closes behind her, Chris looks at Johansson. 

"What kind of development?" he asks. 

"Not the good kind. Word is they want both of you dead, and they don't care how they get it done."

Sebastian's head drops back against the sofa and Chris sits next to him, squeezing his knee comfortingly. 

"Fuck," Sebastian hisses. "This is all my fault."

"Don't be stupid," Chris retorts. "This is not all your fault."

"It is, though. If I hadn't decided to become an international felon we wouldn't be in this mess."

"And we might never have met, so I'll take this over that possibility any day," Chris says firmly, and Sebastian's eyes light up as he looks at him. 

"What the hell did I do to deserve you?" he murmurs, but then Mackie clears his throat and they sheepishly turn away from each other. 

"So we're hoping that we're gonna catch them pretty quickly so none of this is really needed," Mackie says, "but just in case, I take it you've spoken to Rachel about it?"

Chris nods. "We've told her to be aware, and not to go anywhere with anyone she doesn't know well, and to make as much fuss as she can if anyone tries anything. We're just going to keep Michael out of preschool for the time being."

"Very sensible," Johansson smiles. "Okay, so we're going to be with you around the clock, watching the house. We'll also have a second team to escort you when you take Rachel to and from school. We're going to keep you all as safe as we can."

"We're also going to talk to Rachel's teacher and the principal about the issue and to keep an eye out for suspicious characters," Mackie adds. "Just so they know to be on the alert in case anyone is sniffing around."

"You're gonna get through this," Johansson says, her tone reassuring, and Chris grasps Sebastian's hand. He sure as hell hopes so. 

***

Rachel frowns as her tată absentmindedly kisses her goodbye - everyone has been on edge the past few weeks, and Rachel's getting tired of it. She understands that there are bad guys out to get her dad and tată for some reason - she doesn't understand why these bad guys should be so obsessed with her family when she's sure her dad put loads of bad guys away - but she thinks that the FBI should have caught them by now. 

She'd asked her Uncle Anthony about it, but he'd just shrugged. "We can't really find them until they make a move or someone tips us off," he'd told her, which is just annoying. She really wishes they'd just get it over with already so life can go back to normal. 

She's running around the playground at morning break when the ball she and her friends are kicking around goes over the fence. Fully aware that what she's doing is forbidden, Rachel climbs the over fence and grabs the ball from the bushes. As she throws it back over, she feels arms grab her from behind and she screams as loud as she can, just like her dad and tată always told her. 

A large hand clamps over her mouth as she's dragged away while her friends look on in horror, and she opens her mouth wide and bites down hard on the topmost finger. 

"You little bitch," the man hisses, his hand falling from her mouth, and she starts to scream again, kicking and struggling as hard as she can. By now her friends have started screaming too, and she can see a teacher coming to see what's going on. 

"Help! Help!" she cries, and the teacher is running towards her but it's too late, she's being shoved into the back of a van as the man who grabbed her climbs in after. She feels the van start to drive away as she kicks out hard, catching the guy in the kneecap and making him cry out. 

"Fucking stop it or I'll make you sorry," he says menacingly, as she looks around to take stock of her surroundings. The windows in the van are blacked out so there's no use trying to get attention that way, so she throws herself onto a seat and glares at her captor. 

"What do you want with me?" she spits, and the guy grins nastily. 

"Thor and Loki want a word with you." 

Rachel is confused. She has an old book of her dad's, _Favourite Stories From Around The World_ , and it talks about Thor and Loki as Norse gods of old. 

"The gods?" she asks, and the guy laughs. 

"To you they might as well be, since they're the ones who hold your fate in their hands."

Rachel crosses her arms and sighs, staring at her feet. Now she's in this mess there's nothing to do but wait. 

The guy takes out a cellphone and calls someone; she can hear the faint, tinny sound of ringing coming from the speaker, then someone's voice. 

"Tell the bosses I've got the little brat," he laughs, and she scowls. She is _not_ a brat. She briefly considers kicking him again, but remembers his threat and subsides. "Yeah, it was easy enough. Stupid kid came out of the school grounds after a ball." She'll give him that. It was pretty stupid of her. "Yeah, we're on our way, ETA about twenty minutes. 'Kay. Look, man, if she kicks me again I'm gonna...yeah, yeah, fine. Don't know why the bosses care so much but. Anyway. Right. Catch you soon."

He ends the call and starts to play a game on his phone, and Rachel narrows her eyes. 

"My tată says that people who are always playing games on their phones will get rotten brains. Bet your brain is really rotten."

"Shut up, kid," he sneers, but Rachel ignores him. 

"Is that why you're so stupid? 'Cause you're always playing on your phone?"

"I said shut up, kid. Besides, I'm not the one who just got themselves kidnapped."

"Took you long enough, didn't it?" she jeers. "If I hadn't made it easy for you, you'd still be waiting. Anyway, my Aunt Scarlett will find me and she'll kick your butt."

"Don't count on it," he laughs darkly. "Now I'm serious, shut your mouth or things are going to get nasty real quick."

Rachel lapses into an angry silence, making faces at him when he's not looking but making her face go neutral again whenever he glances up. 

***

Chris feels sick. Their baby girl has been kidnapped by two of the scariest, most ruthless guys Chris has ever put away, and he's completely helpless. 

He makes Johansson repeat the witness statements again, that her classmates had see her go over the fence to get a stupid fucking ball when she was taken by a "bad man" with brown hair and a beard. The guy was white, "pretty tall" (according to the kids; according to the teacher he looked to be about six feet two), and "looked mean". 

Even guys as awful as Hemsworth and Hiddleston wouldn't hurt a little seven year old kid - would they?

When they'd got the call from the school, the second team had sped off immediately. Sebastian had almost collapsed, and Chris wasn't far behind him. Now they were sitting together on the sofa, hands clasped together, awaiting any news. 

"We're probably not going to hear anything for a while," Johansson says quietly, and Chris nods. He knows how these things go. 

"Oh my god, she's gonna be so scared," Sebastian chokes out, and Chris pulls him into a hug, kissing the top of his head. 

"She'll probably be a little scared, but she's a resilient kid. She'll be okay until we can find her," Chris responds with more hope than honesty. What worries him most is her smart mouth. She's pretty quick witted, and sasses back a fair amount if she thinks she can get away with it. Chris knows that's the kind of thing that will really piss off Hiddleston, and the result could be...but he won't think about that. They're going to find her. They are. 

***

Finally, the van stops, and the guy drags Rachel out of the van into an old building. She can hear the sea, and the sound of gulls squawking, so she figures they must be near the coast. She knows there's no point in struggling right now, with no one around to witness it, so she saves her energy. She feels like she's going to need it. 

The guy pulls her into a large room, and pushes her down onto a chair. He grabs some rope and comes back, looking down at her. 

"Hold out your wrists," he tells her, and she takes a deep breath. Her Aunt Scarlett has taught her all about this - what to do if anyone tries to tie her up - and now, Rachel guesses, it's time to see if it works. So she holds her hands out together, rotating her wrist surreptitiously as he ties the rope around them. 

Once he's finished with her hands, he moves on to her ankles. She tenses her muscles as much as she can as he wraps the rope around her, before tying it off. 

But the guy doesn't leave the room once he's done, so she can't try to escape. Instead, he goes over to a corner and watches her. She squirms slightly, the rope chaffing uncomfortably, but then the door opens and she looks up as a group of men stride into the room. The two at the front are clearly the bosses: both of them have beards, but one has short blonde hair and a lot of muscles, and the other has short dark hair and is a lot skinnier. 

"So this is the kid?" the blonde one says, and Rachel looks at him curiously. He has a funny accent. 

"Yeah, this is her," the guy in the corner says, and the dark haired guy comes up to her and gets down on his haunches in front of her. 

"So you're their little girl," he says, and he's got an accent too, but this one Rachel recognises - he's definitely English. "Well, well. What's your name?"

"Rachel Evans," she says defiantly, "and my Aunt Scarlett and Uncle Anthony are going to come and rescue me, so don't get too comfortable."

The man's eyes narrow and his hand twitches like he wants to hit her, and Rachel is suddenly very afraid of this man, though she tries not to show it. 

"No one is coming to rescue you," he says comfortably after a moment. "Your daddies are going to exchange themselves for you, and then we're going to kill them."

Rachel's eyes go wide and her heart thumps in her chest. "You're a bad man," she yells. "My dad and my tată are good men and you're going to get caught and sent back to jail!"

"Unlikely," the man laughs. "But where are my manners? I'm Loki, and this is Thor," he says, indicating the blonde man. 

"You're not gods," she scoffs. "You're just bad men."

"And you are trying my patience," Loki hisses, raising his hand. She braces herself for the slap to come, but Thor catches his hand. 

"Come on, man, she's just a little kid," he says softly. "If we need to, we'll do what we have to, but you can't beat on her. It's not right."

"Fine," Loki growls, pulling his hand from Thor's grip and stalking off. Thor looks down at her, his eyes narrowed. 

"You really don't want to piss him off. Next time I might not be there to stop him. He'll kill you if you give him half an excuse." Rachel gulps, and nods to indicate that she understands. "All right. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"Thirsty," she replies. She's not, not really, but she's still figuring out her escape plan and is trying for a plan b just in case plan a doesn't go well. Thor looks up at the guy in the corner and glares. 

"Well? Go get the kid a bottle of water," he orders him, and the man goes. 

"I don't understand why you want my dad and tată," she says quietly, and Thor laughs. 

"Because your tată double crossed me, kiddo, and then got me put in jail, and I really don't appreciate either of those things."

"What do you mean, double crossed?" Rachel asks curiously. 

"We worked together, your tată and me," he says, "for years we worked together. Then one day he decides he wants to get out the business and in doing so made me look like an idiot in front of my customers."

"You're making it sound like tată was a criminal," she scoffs. Thor raises an eyebrow at her. "No. No way was my tată a criminal. He couldn't have adopted me and my brother if he'd been a criminal."

Thor shrugs. "He made a deal. Grassed up me and a bunch of others for a clean slate. Your tată was one of the best jewel thieves out there until he quit."

Rachel gapes at him. "You're lying," she says slowly, but even she can hear the uncertainty in her tone. 

"Suit yourself if you don't want to believe me, but I'm telling the truth," Thor grins. "But he gave it all up for a chance with your dad. It would have been romantic if he hadn't screwed me over in the process."

Rachel can't even speak - she feels as if her entire world has been turned upside down. A tear rolls down her cheek and she itches to wipe it away but doesn't want to draw attention to how loose the bonds are around her wrists. 

"Save your tears, kid," Thor says grimly. "You'll have enough to cry over soon enough."

Rachel bites her lip as more tears threaten to spill over, but at that moment the guy returns with a bottle of water. Thor takes it from him and opens it, then holds it up to her lips, letting her take a few sips. 

When he takes the bottle away again she closes her eyes and tilts her head back, praying that she'll be found soon. 

***

It's three hours after she's taken that Chris gets the phone call. It comes up as a withheld number, and he puts it on speakerphone as he answers. 

"Hello?"

"Agent Evans! Or should I say Christopher, since you're not an agent any more?"

"Hiddleston," he grits out. "Where the fuck is my daughter?"

"Patience, patience. We're willing to make a trade. You and Sebastian for the little brat. I know your friends at the FBI are probably listening, so let me make this clear: if they come along, we will kill her. If you don't do exactly as we say, we will kill her. If you move one foot out of line, _we will kill her_. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Chris manages. "Please don't hurt her, jesus, Hiddleston, she's just a kid..."

"That will be entirely up to you. Come to the following address at midnight tomorrow. Just you and Sebastian. Once we have you both, one of my men will drop your daughter back home, although of course your children are going to need new parents." Hiddleston laughs, and it's all Chris can do not to yell at him, but he really doesn't want to antagonise the man who holds his daughter's life in his hands. "But she'll be safe, and that's what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Here's the address." He reels off an address downtown in a particularly scary neighbourhood, and Chris narrows his eyes as he hears a familiar sound in the background. "Oh and Chris? Don't be late." Hiddleston ends the call, and Chris looks at Johansson, who shakes her head. 

"We couldn't get a trace - it's like he was rerouting the call through a million cell towers."

"Dammit. But, Johansson, did you hear that noise? In the background?"

"No?"

"It sounded like gulls. A lot of gulls."

"You think they could be down by the seafront?"

"I think it's possible."

After a few minutes, Mackie looks up from his laptop. "Okay so this may be nothing, but I just found a warehouse down near the seafront which is registered to Asgard Holdings Incorporated. You don't think...?"

"I think they're just arrogant enough to do that," Chris says grimly. "Whatever, I think it's worth checking out."

"I want to come," Sebastian cuts in suddenly from the corner where he's been sitting silently. 

"Sebastian, no, you can't..."

"You're planning on going, Chris, and you're not an agent any more. I'm fucking going if you are."

Chris looks at him for a long moment, then sighs. "Fine. But you stay back."

"You're not getting a gun, Evans," Johansson says with an air of finality. "You're leaving this to us. You two will stay in the car."

Chris looks at her mutinously, but subsides. At least she's letting them go. 

Mackie and Johansson call the rest of the team to tell them to meet up near to the warehouse. Meanwhile, Sebastian is calling Michael's best friend's mom to ask her if she can take Michael for a few hours. When he ends the call, Chris looks at him questioningly. 

"She says it's no problem, and that she heard about Rachel and she hopes we get her back soon," Sebastian says tiredly, and Chris kisses him briefly. 

"And we will. It'll all be okay."

They leave soon after, dropping Michael off on the way before making their way down to the seafront. They park far enough away from the warehouse that they won't be seen, and soon after they arrive another van arrives, and Renner, Downey, Ruffalo, and Olsen, who had replaced Chris on the team, jump out. 

"Stay," Johansson tells them sternly, as she and Mackie leave the car and move together with the others towards the target. 

"Are we really just gonna sit here and wait?" Sebastian asks quietly.

"Nope, but we've gotta give them a head start," Chris replies with a grin, and together they watch as the team enters the warehouse, guns drawn. 

***

The others have gone again, and it's just the guy who had taken Rachel watching her from the corner, as she sits quietly, biding her time. She's always been patient, and now more than ever she's glad she's never been overly impulsive like some of the other kids she knows. 

As she sits there, she hears a lot of banging noises outside - really loud banging noises, like a car backfiring, only lots of times. The guy in the corner runs from the room, taking his gun out as he goes, and Rachel sees her chance. Slowly, but not too slowly, she eases the loosened ropes from around her wrists, then takes her shoes off and pushes the ropes around her ankles down over her feet. She grabs her shoes and stands up, looking around, then runs and hides in one of the large crates. 

The crates have small holes in the side so she can peer out without being seen, and she watches as a group of men, including Thor and Loki, run back into the room, stopping when they see her chair is empty. 

"Shit!" Loki yells, looking really angry, and now she's really glad she's in the crate. "Okay, first of all where the _fuck_ is the kid, and second of all how the _fuck_ did they find us?!?"

"I don't fucking know how they found us, but the kid can't have gone far. We just need to find her and we can get out of this to freedom."

"Fuck that," Loki spits. "I'm going to kill that kid. If I can't kill Stan and Evans I'll kill something important to them."

"Don't be stupid, she's our only way out of here!" Thor yells, as the door bursts open and Rachel sees her Aunt Scarlett lead the FBI team in, guns blazing. 

Pretty quickly all of Thor and Loki's men are on the floor, as Rachel watches, wide eyed. She wonders if they're dead, and the thought makes her feel sick. Thor and Loki both have their guns drawn, but they seem to realise pretty quick that it's all over, because they both drop their guns on the floor and the agents rush over to cuff them. 

"Where the hell is the little girl?" Aunt Scarlett asks, and Thor shrugs. 

"Don't know. We came in and she was gone."

As Rachel prepares to climb out the crate, her dad and tată burst into the room, and Rachel watches wide eyed as her dad runs towards Thor and Loki before being held back by her tată. 

"You sons of bitches," her dad yells, "where the hell is my daughter?"

"Daddy! Tată!" she shouts, jumping out the crate and running towards them. Then her dad and tată are running towards her too and she flings herself at them both, and they wrap her up in a bone crushing hug. 

"Oh Rachel, oh sweetheart, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" her dad is asking her, and she shakes her head. 

"No, they just tied me up," she says. "That Loki man wanted to hurt me, though."

"I'm gonna kill him," her dad mutters darkly, pulling away and turning towards the bad men, but she pulls him back. 

"No, dad, you shouldn't," she tells him. "Let him rot in prison." Her dad and tată look at her with wide eyes, and she shrugs. "What? He deserves it."

Her tată looks at her, his expression pained. "I know, honey, but you're too young to be saying things like that."

She shrugs, remembering suddenly what Thor had said her tată used to do and unable to look him in the eye. Uncle Anthony comes over and claps her dad on the back. "Me and Johansson are gonna take you three back to the office and get a statement from the little lady here so you guys can get home soon."

"Thanks, Mackie," her dad says, looking grateful, and they follow him out, past Thor and Loki who watch them go with a glare. 

It's Uncle Anthony who takes her statement when they reach the FBI offices, and her dad's old boss, Assistant Director Jackson, even comes in to make sure she's okay. She likes the assistant director. When she first went to live with dad and tată he came to visit and played finger puppets with her. 

Eventually she's told them everything they need to know, and Aunt Scarlett gives them a ride home, picking up her little brother on the way. When they get home she sighs and sits on the sofa, staring at her feet. She can barely believe what's happened to her over the past day. 

***

Chris lets Sebastian put Michael to bed, then Sebastian rejoins him in the living room where he's sitting on the sofa with Rachel, his arm around her. When Sebastian comes in, Rachel tenses, and Chris looks at her curiously. 

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Tată, when you met dad...were you a jewel thief?"

Sebastian looks at him, stricken, and that seems to be all the confirmation she needs because she immediately bursts out crying. 

"Oh, hey, Rachel, sweetie, don't cry, please don't cry, it's okay," he says soothingly. 

"It's not okay!" she sobs. "Tată was a _criminal_ , he was a bad guy!"

"Hey, your tată was never a bad guy, okay? Yes, he did some bad things, but he never hurt anyone. He only stole stuff from big museums." Rachel looks up at him disbelievingly and he makes a face. "I'm not helping?"

"But stealing is bad!" she insists, and oh boy. 

"Yes, sweetheart, stealing is bad. And your tată realised this and is now an honest guy who would never steal anything ever again."

"Does bunică know?" she asks shakily. 

"No, Rachel. No one knows except the FBI and me."

"Thor said you double crossed him and then sold him out to the FBI?" she says to Sebastian, who sighs. 

"I didn't double cross him, exactly. I didn't come through on a deal because I was trying to get out of the business, mostly because I was falling pretty hard for your dad," Sebastian explains. "Then he tried to hurt me and your dad saved me, and _then_ I made a deal with the FBI that I would give them information if they'd wipe my record clean. That information put Thor in prison."

"Loki too?"

"No, Loki was later. Your dad was still working for the FBI and I offered to go undercover to catch him."

"Your tată was very brave," Chris adds, "and it almost got him killed."

"So, you're not a bad guy, tată?"

"Would I have married an ex FBI agent if I was?" Sebastian asks her, and she smiles. 

"I guess not," she says, before yawning. 

"Okay, young lady, I think you've had enough excitement for one day. Time for bed."

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" she asks pleadingly, and Chris nods. 

"Course you can. You go up and get ready, and we'll be up to tuck you in soon."

She leaves the room, and Sebastian flops down on the sofa beside Chris. 

"Fuck, that is a conversation I never expected to have."

"It's okay. I think we explained it pretty well."

"I just hate the thought of her thinking I'm a bad guy," Sebastian says, his face pinched, and Chris leans over to kiss him. 

"She doesn't. Not really. She knows you're her tată and she loves you, and you love her, and that's what matters."

They go up and tuck her in with a story, sitting with her until she falls asleep, then creeping out the bedroom. 

"I think I need to shower," Sebastian yawns. "Wash the stink of fear off me."

"You want company?" Chris asks, wiggling his eyebrows, and Sebastian pulls him in for a kiss. 

"Always," he laughs softly, leading Chris through to the bathroom. They strip off as the water runs to the right temperature, then climb in together before reaching for each other, drawing each other in for a deep kiss. 

Chris can feel Sebastian's hard cock nudging against his own and he groans. "Fuck, Sebastian, need you to fuck me."

Sebastian kisses him again, then hops out the shower, returning with the lube they keep in the bathroom cabinet for just such an occasion. Chris turns to face the wall, leaning on his folded arms and sticking his ass out, and Sebastian moans softly. Chris hears the wet sound of him slicking up his fingers, then he starts playing with Chris's asshole, making him bite his lip and push back against them, trying to get more. 

Sebastian takes the hint and pushes in two fingers, making Chris gasp and writhe as the feeling of _toomuchnotenough_ crashes through him. Sebastian starts to stretch him properly, occasionally moving his fingers to rub at Chris's prostate, and Chris bites at the arm underneath his mouth to stop himself from crying out loudly enough to wake the kids. 

By the time Sebastian adds a third finger, Chris is babbling softly, curses interspersed with Sebastian's name. Sebastian stretches him for a few more minutes before pulling out his fingers, and _fucking finally_ Chris feels Sebastian's cock pressing into him. He pushes back against Sebastian until Sebastian's hips meet his ass, then he turns his head to capture Sebastian's lips in a messy, awkward kiss. 

"Fucking move," he says hoarsely, and Sebastian does, fucking him hard and fast and making Chris bite his tongue so he doesn't cry out. Sebastian reaches around to stroke Chris's cock as he changes angle so he's hitting that spot inside him with every thrust and suddenly Chris is coming all over Sebastian's hand and the shower tiles. Sebastian thrusts into him a few times more then stills, groaning out his release. 

He pulls out gently, and Chris turns around, kissing him lazily as Sebastian's spunk drips down his thighs. The water is starting to cool now, so they wash quickly before climbing out and towelling each other off. 

They pull on their boxers and tshirts, throwing the rest of their clothes in the laundry basket, and head to bed. Rachel is curled up near the edge on Sebastian's side, so Sebastian climbs into the middle and Chris lays down on his side, snuggling into Sebastian and laying his head on Sebastian's chest. 

"Let's not do today ever again," Chris murmurs, and Sebastian huffs a laugh. 

"Go to sleep," he says, his tone fond, and Chris does just that, lulled into slumber by his husband's heartbeat and their daughter's soft breathing.


End file.
